


水は生きている; The Water is Alive

by daitsukidesu



Series: A Whole lot of Yachi-ships [5]
Category: Free!, Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Gen, There's one scene with hinted romance but it's pretty much gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-12-02
Packaged: 2018-08-20 07:38:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8241532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daitsukidesu/pseuds/daitsukidesu
Summary: Once, there was a story, that of the little mermaid, that caused children to start believing.Once, there was a town near the coasts of Japan. A town of people who lived under the sea. They had bodies and heads like that of a human, but tails like a fish’s.Once, there was a young girl, who feared the water. Until she one day met someone who taught her to love it.





	1. Chapter 1

_Once, there was a story, that of the little mermaid, that caused children to start believing._

_Once, there was a town near the coasts of Japan. A town of people who lived under the sea. They had bodies and heads like that of a human, but tails like a fish’s. This town was one of merpeople. And they used to love showing themselves to the humans in the nearby town._

_It was a trick of the light, the humans once believed. But then came the rescue, where a darling child taught to have drowned was washed up on the shore, and he told everyone who would listen that he had a wonderful adventure. He had met a mermaid._

_The adults didn’t believe him, but the children did, and they spent hours and hours on the beach, hoping to get a glimpse of the merpeople they had heard about. It was a silly thing to do, the adults told them, and dangerous too._

_But everyone lost to the sea came back to them, declaring unbelievable stories of mermaids._

_The town began to believe, and the merpeople became a legend, they became their saviours, the guardians of that town’s seas._

_Even if no one had seen a mermaid for over a decade, the town still remembered. It still believed. It still knew that the water was alive._

_In return, they never lost a soul to the merciless sea._

-

Once, when she was younger, Hitoka met a mermaid. It wasn’t something people tended to believe in so she never really told them. It was a memory she held dear though, something the six year old her swore to herself that she would never forget.

They met when she was playing around near the shores of the beach her family frequently visited during summer vacation. At that time, her parents could see her clearly, and she was safe from the dangers of the ocean. She saw a flash of silver, and ran off, ignoring her cousin’s yell that ‘Hitoka was running away’. She heard a laugh, and her grandmother’s voice saying that no one had ever drowned in these waters. She might have wondered why, but her mind was preoccupied following that beautiful silver she saw just now, scales that looked like a tail, that could only have come from a very very big fish. She wanted to see it!

She did. Right behind a part of the beach that was mostly covered up by rocks, her desperate attempt at following that silver tail finally came to fruit. The fish had stopped moving, and Hitoka grinned with delight at the large blue tail. It was long and shined a lovely silver in the sun. She giggled as the fish lifted up the end of its tail. The motion was slow, hesitant, and rewarded with an amazed gasp. The fish had three whole fins. All of them were blue and faded out to silver at the edges. It looked like a beautiful fan.

“Is it that interesting?”

Hitoka yelped, jumping back as her head shot up to see who was talking.

Much to her surprise she saw a boy around her age (perhaps a bit older, she couldn’t really tell) in the water. He had black hair, dripping wet, and eyes as blue as the sea. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and Hitoka had at first assumed that he was wearing trunks just like her cousins were. At least, until the tail moved, and Hitoka’s gaze was drawn down to it, and to the fact that the tail was in fact connected to the boy, and not a fish.

“Y-you’re a fish!”

The boy’s eye twitched, and he crossed his arms, looking at her with disinterest, “We prefer merpeople.” His voice was lower than her’s, but still high pitched due to his age, it was clear and pleasant, sounding somewhat like the sea, and, Hitoka noted with envy that he didn’t have a lisp. She herself had a small lisp still, her rs and ls sometimes switching themselves out for ws. It was annoying really, that such a small thing could lead to so much painful cheek pinching. But mama said it was a normal thing for children to experience, she didn’t understand why. He must not have the same problem.

“Mer… wike a mermaid?” Oh, there was her lisp getting in the way of things again. In front of this boy who was her age and spoke perfectly, it felt like a shameful thing to not be able to control her tongue.

“That’s for girls, males are usually called merman.” He tilted her head slightly, a confused look appearing on his face for a second as he looked at her, “You can’t speak…?”

“N-NO!” Hitoka yelped, “I can. But I have a- mama calls it a wisp.”

“A wisp?”

“A-” Frustration appeared on Hitoka’s face as she tried to pronounce the word properly, eyes narrowing in concentration, “A wi-w-lisp. A lisp.”

“A lisp.” He didn’t seem impressed. Not in the least. “I have heard of such a thing, I didn’t think they were real.”

“They are!” Hitoka was pouting now, and she turned her head, a foot crashing down onto the sand childishly.

His face changed then, no longer apathetic as he pushed himself forward on the sand, getting closer to the shore, closer to Hitoka. He was staring at her legs, eyes slightly widened by curiousity.

Hitoka tilted her head slightly at his actions, and frowned, “Have you never seen feet before?”

He shook his head at her, “We have no need for such things underwater.”

“Huh…”

Feeling a bit of pity for him for not having legs, (they were really useful) Hitoka ignored everything her mother said about staying away from the water and cautiously put her feet into the sea. She wiggled her toes as they touched the wet sand, a simple action that the merman seemed to find as interesting as Hitoka found snow to be. She giggled at his face and slowly walked closer to him, where the water reached to below her knees, and sat down next to him, legs extended to the open sea.

“I’m Hitoka.” Hitoka introduced, “What’s your name?”

“Haruka. Or Haru.” A pause, “You seem scared.”

She was? Hitoka frowned a bit, biting her lip, “I guess I am. Mama always says the water is dangerous.”

Haru – that was such a nice name, kind of like a girl’s but it left a pleasant sound like tinkling bells in the back of Hitoka’s mind when she thought it – nodded, “She’s right.”

“Even for mermen wike you?”

“Even for us,” his face remained apathetic as he kept speaking, but she could see the ocean in his eyes, swirling with a thousand emotions – awe, fear, wonder, attachment, maybe even love, “The water is alive. Once you, I, or anyone dives into it, it immediately bares its fangs and attack. But,” he lifted his lips into a small smile, and his eyes sparkled with so much joy, “I don’t think there’s anything to fear.”

“Nothing to fear…?”

He nodded, then tilted his head, “Hitoka, can you swim?”

Hitoka shook her head.

That small smile returned, “Then let me teach you.”

She could only nod.

He shuffled a bit in the sand, before pushing himself into the deeper side of the sea. He held out a hand to her, “Come on then.”

Without thinking, Hitoka took his hand, and he tugged her deep into the water.

“Agh- gah- HAWU I CAN’T SWIM!”

If Haru hadn’t changed his grip so that he was holding her shoulders and keeping her upright, Hitoka thought that she would have been struggling to get back to shore.

“It’s okay. Don’t be scared. Lie down on your stomach.”

“On the water???”

“Where else?”

Hitoka frowned, her cheeks puffing up as she tried to not pout.

“I’ll hold you.”

Hitoka sighed and chose to trust him. He hadn’t dropped her yet anyway.

“Good.” His hands were under her stomach now, holding her afloat as she lay on her stomach on the water. He lowered her slightly more into the water, Hitoka curled her toes, trying not to get scared.

“Now, kick your legs.”

She did, and Haru nodded in approval, moving his tail slightly to move them both forward. “Now, thrust your fingers out, and carve an opening in the water.”

“Carve an opening?”

He nodded.

“Don’t move okay?” With a swish of his tail, Haru let go of her stomach and grabbed her outstretched hands. He kept them both moving, his tail moving them both forward as he talked to her, “Keep kicking your legs, and then-”

It must have been a horribly long process, Hitoka thought now, for that young mer to have taught her to swim. He talked her through the step-by-step process of swimming, teaching her to keep her fingers together as she pushed her arm down into the water and created an opening for her to slide her body through. At one point after he got her to swim downwards, submerging her whole body into the water, he stopped holding on to her, letting her move through the water on her own. She didn’t even realise until she heard a light tinkle next to her and turned her head to see Haru laughing. She panicked and Haru quickly grabbed her hands and swam her up to the surface.

Once up there, the young girl had immediately started to gasp for breath, and Haru laughed, his voice was much less tinkly above the water but the sound was nonetheless, breathtakingly beautiful. “H-Hawu, that was mean!!!”

“You swam! Hitoka, you swam!”

He didn’t seem like someone who usually showed so much emotion if the apathetic way of speaking he seemed to have developed was taken into consideration. After showing her such a bright smile, Hitoka just couldn’t stay mad at him.

“I- I did!”

She grinned back just as brightly.

They had spent the rest of the day playing and swimming. And when the sun began to set, Hitoka pouted as she sulkily told Haru that she had to go.

“Will you be back?” He had asked, and Hitoka frowned, unsure of how she should answer.

“We usually come visit here every year since grandma lives here.” She grins suddenly, “I’m sure I’ll be here again next year~”

He nods, understanding, and turns his head to the sound of her family’s calls. Hitoka tilted her head at her parent’s voices and smiled kindly at Haru as she turned around.

“See you soon, Haru! Bye!”

“Bye…” Haru mumbled back, Hitoka had barely heard the word as she ran back to her family, turning around once to wave at him. He had waved back, and disappeared into the sea half a second later. By then Hitoka was yelling back at her family, telling them all that she was fine.

(She was very sure her grandmother told her parents ‘I told you so.’)

Hitoka kept Haru a secret, knowing that if she mentioned him, no one would believe her. She kept her excitement and newly found love of water under a tight lid, one only to be opened when she got to swim. It must have been a surprise to her parents when her school started giving them swimming lessons again. It wasn’t every day that their daughter who had once feared water began swimming like a fish. Hitoka couldn’t help but giggle at their wonder, it was, after all one of the merfolk who taught her to swim.

Spring went on and Hitoka remembered each and every bit of Haru’s words. She took them to heart and built her swimming style around it, working out what kinks and problems there was with her swimming and fixing them. She reminded herself to keep her head down, she made sure not to bend her legs too much, and kept her fingers together as she swam. Much to Coach Tachibana’s surprise, Hitoka ended up being the fastest swimmer in her class. It would be a lie to say that she wasn’t at least a little bit proud of herself.

She couldn’t wait to show Haru next summer!

At least that’s what she planned. But life decided that it wasn’t to be, for the summer holidays didn’t bring along beaches and a quaint little town, but death and funeral and mourning. With her grandmother gone, Hitoka didn’t think that she would ever see the beach again.

And for years she didn’t. She hid her disappointment behind studies and plays where she pretended to be satisfied with her role as Villager B. She wasn’t. She didn’t feel free. Not in the way she was when she learnt to swim that one summer day.

When Kiyoko approached her in the hallways, she was terrified. The fear grew when she saw the volleyball club, especially Kageyama who somehow reminded her of that boy she met. But Hinata was there and he was a breath of fresh air. He bulldozed her way through her life and dragged her along, leaving her tired and excited every day.

Being with Karasuno was different than being with Haru. If with him she swam freely in the cruel seas, with them, she grew wings and flew through the merciless skies. Karasuno, Hitoka decided, flew. They dreamt of castles in the sky and flew so so high despite how flawed they were and each time they were about to reach, the wind blew harshly and they crashed down to the ground.

She carved into her heart each and every loss they had during the Tokyo training camp and placed in her pocket the anguish of losing to Aoba Johsai. Observing them all, she swore that she would do all that was in her power to be the best manager and bring them to heights they could barely imagine.

She’d help them reach that castle they yearned for and drag them even further than that.

When the Winter Cup came along, Hitoka almost felt free.

Almost.

(If only summer would come along. She wanted to swim again.)

“Yachi-san, have you heard? We’re going to the beach this summer!!”

Hinata grinned and yelled on about their oncoming field trip. Hitoka couldn’t help but smile and laugh along. They didn’t yet know which beach they were going to but even the thought of the sea – the thought of being free, even that filled her with giddiness.

When she found out that they were going to stay in a town that still believed in myths, she grinned so brightly that she outshone the sun.

(She wondered how much Haru had changed. She wondered if he wasn’t just a dream.)

They were given free time on the first day and Hitoka joined the volleyball club first years. She wasn’t sure how but somehow or other Hinata had managed to drag her and the others (Tsukishima included) to the beach to play. Hitoka wasn’t sure how long the five of them would last the day together. She suspected that at the end of the day, Hinata and Kageyama would be the only two left on the beach, competing over something or other, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima had looked like they wanted to go sightseeing in town when they were dragged along and she thought that they might insist on going at some point of the day, and she, well, Hitoka wanted to go for a swim.

But for now it wouldn’t hurt to play with them a bit.

She made sure to keep an eye on the sea at all times, hoping, praying that she would see a flash of silver. She didn’t and she spent hours playing in the sand with the boys, resisting the call of the sea for as long as she could. And finally, she couldn’t any longer.

She stood up and brushed the sand off her dress, pulling it off and throwing it into her bag, kicking off her slippers as well in the process. She might have heard the four boys make surprised sounds at her sudden actions but she was too preoccupied with her own thoughts too care. She was already wearing a swimsuit anyway. Biting her lip, she pulled out her side ponytail and pulled back her hair, remembering just how hair always got in her way when she was underwater.

“Y-Yacchan-”

“I’m going for a swim! I’ll meet you all at dinner!”

If one of them answered to her words, she didn’t hear it. Hitoka was already in the water, diving down as deep into the sea as she dared, going back up for air every few minutes. She could barely hold back a grin as she swam, revelling in the feeling of water against her skin, loving how her fingers carved a path for her to move through, how the water pulled and pulled at her hairband, how gently the cool water caressed her, and the sting in her eyes for forgetting to use her goggles.

A laugh bubbled up in her chest and burst from her lips.

She was free.

When she next dived into the sea, she didn’t manage to swim. A storm of tiny bubbles surrounded her and a hand pulled on her wrist, dragging her through the waters. She saw a flash of silver.

(She wasn’t at all scared after that.)

“Is soon that long for humans?”

“I-it couldn’t be helped, okay!”

He looked at her skeptically, face almost blank.

Hitoka crossed her arms over her chest as she glared back from her perch on the rocks in a cove she remembered finding when they were both younger, the place he brought her to again now. All the fear and nervousness that might have attacked her at a time such as this remained silent, locked up tight under the high she was still on from her swim.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, taking in how much they’ve both changed over the years.

He barely changed, Hitoka noted, his face still had the same expressionless gaze as before, and his eyes still held the sea. The only obvious change was his size and height, (he was so much taller now,) and strength too if the way he dragged her just now was any indication. And then, Hitoka’s gaze trailed downwards, there was his tail. That was the one that changed the most.

The blue of his tail was darker now, like shadows in the deepest parts of the sea. If she wasn’t looking straight at it, it might almost have disappeared, drowned in the darkness of the sea under the brightness of the afternoon sun.

Haru sighed, and swam closer towards her, pulling himself up onto the rock as he sat down next to her. The scales of his tail caught the light of the sun, and like before, it gleamed a brilliant silver. The three fan-like fins from before had grown longer, and Hitoka thought that they probably help him swim even faster than before. Like the rest of his tail, the parts of the fins closest to his tail had turned dark blue, towards the middle it was the same blue that he used to have as a child, and like before, it was silver at the edges. His tail was stunning.

Hitoka raised her face to look at him, only to see him doing the same.

“Your tail is prettier now.”

“Your nails are very… colourful.”

Wha- Hitoka looked down to her feet, zeroing in on her painted toenails.

“O-oh, that was my senpai’s work.”

“So it’s not natural?”

“Ah, no…”

“I see…”

They stared at each other for a moment more before Hitoka started giggling.

“Your face is always so blank, Haru.”

“And yours is far too expressive.”

Hitoka beamed at him, and a hint of amusement appeared in Haru’s eyes.

“I see you can swim now.”

“Of course, you taught me.”

Haru pushed himself off the rock, easing himself into the water with a delicate little ‘plop’. He turned to her, a hand rising from the water in an inviting gesture.

“Swim with me.”

Hitoka grinned, standing up on the rock and taking a step back. She could sense a bit of confusion coming from Haru but she didn’t stop, only launched herself into the sea and landing with a giant splash.

Swimming upwards, she found herself face to face with a shocked Haru, almost nose to nose now that both of them were in the water. His tail was much longer than her legs though. A surprised laugh came from Haru’s lips and Hitoka grinned back.

“Of course, I’ll swim with you.”                                                                     

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omake:
> 
> “UWOOO!!!! YACCHAN YOU’RE BACK!!!”
> 
> “A-ah! Hinata-kun!”
> 
> “Yachi-san! How was your swim?”
> 
> Hitoka smiled at Yamaguchi above Hinata’s head as they walked to dinner. (Much to his displeasure.)
> 
> “It was wonderful! Did you manage to get to town?”
> 
> “Yup! Did you know that they believe in mermaids here? They say that they protect the people from the dangers of the sea.”
> 
> She held back a laugh, “Really? That’s nice.”
> 
> “On our way back here, Tsukky even overheard someone saying that they saw someone kissing over at a cove somewhere! It must have been the merpeople!”
> 
> Hitoka tripped over her feet and barely managed to catch herself.
> 
> “R-r-really now? H-how interesting…”
> 
> “I KNOW RIGHT-”
> 
> “Yamaguchi. I know mermaids and stuff are interesting and all but don’t you think it’s cooler that Yachi-san can swim like that! She was like splash then nyoom and it was so guwaaaaa!!!!!”
> 
> “Ah! I know right! We were all so impressed! Where did you learn to swim like that?”
> 
> “Um- well, I was taught to. I used to be scared of water but…” Hitoka trailed off as she remembered Haru’s words, a smile forming on her lips, “My friend started to teach me to swim and he told me that…”
> 
> Hitoka’s smile grew as she saw the intense concentration that was on Hinata and Yamaguchi’s faces.
> 
> “The water is alive. Once you dive in, it will immediately bare its fangs and attack. But, there's nothing to fear. Don't resist the water. Thrust your fingers into the surface and carve an opening. Then you slide your body through that opening. Moving your arms, your head, your chest…”
> 
> \----
> 
> And that's it. I- honestly this is probably fish excrement, it was so hard to write qaq. I SPENT MONTHS TRYING TO WRITE THIS FUDGE AND I DISLIKE IT WHAT IS MY WRITING STYLE HERE AJFKJAKJFNJDNJNGFS
> 
> I regret shipping this.
> 
> I don't ship this anymore.
> 
> Goodbye ship.
> 
> *looks at Kuroko* Please don't be as troublesome.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a part two now woop!

“Haru.” Not receiving a reply, Hitoka spoke again, “Hey, Haru.”

Once again, she received no reply, but the mer did turn his head ever so slightly in her direction, an indication that he was listening. If she hadn’t had a firm grasp of his personality by now, Hitoka might have pouted. Instead she just talked to him as she recalled this morning’s events.

_“Mers, by account, are honest creatures. You’ll never catch a mer lying,” the old woman smiled, her stories were enchanting, her voice weaving Hitoka’s whole group into its folds and making them feel like they never wanted to leave it._

_“It is said that, once one of the merfolk has made a promise, they’ll never go back on it, but,” her brown eyes flashed with an emotion Hitoka could not recognise and it startled the girl out of her reverie, “fearing that one of them might, they seal the promise with a magic stronger than any other.”_

_“They seal it with their love or any other feelings that they may share for the other.”_

_“They seal it with a kiss.”_

_The woman’s eyes met Hitoka’s own and she found that she wasn’t breathing. With a forced exhale, Hitoka tried not to think, tried not to guess whether she had gone pale or turned red, tried not to remember what had happened yesterday._

_Tried not to wonder what Haru had promised her._

_“One need not know what the other mer has promised them. Neither need they make a promise to the other in return. But the magic is sealing, and no one has ever been heard of it ever being broken.”_

_“And I hope no one ever will.”_

“What-” Hitoka stopped, wondering if her question was really appropriate. What if he didn’t want to tell her, “Yesterday, w-what did you promise me when- when-” She could not continue her question.

“I thought you’ve fixed that stutter.”

Hitoka only spluttered more, “J-just answer the question!”

Silence.

“You swim recklessly.”

“I do not-”

Haru looked at her and she stopped. Probably, she realised that he did not want to be interrupted. Possibly, she might have gotten lost, entranced by the blue of his eyes.

“You cannot breathe underwater, yet you do not fear it. You stay under far longer than a human should rightfully be able to do with only a single breath of air to support you.” A sigh, and he lowered his eyes. “You used to fear the water. I taught you not to. I am responsible for this recklessness.”

He raised his face to meet her eyes once more. Hitoka’s breath got caught in her throat.

“I promised to protect you to the best of my abilities. So that you can still swim as you wish without needing to worry about the terrors that the ocean may bring.”

Hitoka grinned, and hopped off the rock she was perched on, arms finding their way around Haru’s neck as she laughed.

It was moments like this, though few and far in between, that reminded her just how much she treasured him.

.

.

.

.

.

“How long will this promise last?”

“….”

“What was that?”

“Forever sounds like long enough…”

“That sounds perfect!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This were the words left for us to ponder. It may have happened on the very day Haru confessed his promise, or on the day that Hitoka left the beach for Miyagi once more, both of them fearing the possibility that they might not cross paths again, or it could even have happened years later, on a day after Hitoka has visited him a many more times, one where they decided to reminisce and they brought up the promise again. Whenever it happened, after the words have been spoken, Hitoka could only smile and made a promise, sealing it while Haru was still in shock.
> 
> That promise had been one that was too intimate to share, whispered in a voice so soft that Haru had to lean in close to hear them. When it had been sealed, Hitoka swore that she wouldn't ever forget that moment. She didn't think that it would be possible to, not with that tender smile that he had given her, his eyes soft as they returned her promise.
> 
> \---
> 
> I tried to make that bit Lemony Snicket style haha I failed lol 
> 
> Now then, it might have been quite ooc for Haru to admit such a thing as he did in the final words of this story, but I feel as if it isn't too farfetched for him in this AU. I also feel as if he would just be that type of person, who might be awkward, but once he's in love and knows that his feelings are returned, he might blush and mumble, but he'd be blunt and simply state out his feelings aloud, leaving the other person embarrassed at his straightforwardness.
> 
> This chapter might not be the best but it was one meant merely to tie up loose ends in the story that I was not satisfied with. This AU has a whole world of its own in my mind but it isn't one I plan on exploring in writing. I wish for the details to remain within the crevices of my thoughts, left there for me to find in moments that I least expect them, but here are some of the details I wish to share, to give you more information as to what could occur within this little world of mine:
> 
> 1\. This is a world in which Hitoka has something she treasures more than the VB club. The boys may not understand her love for swimming but they understood that it made her as happy as volleyball made them and that in itself let them support her through all she decided to do with her talent. When Hitoka began joining swimming competitions, it was her boys who were sitting in the front row of the stands, screaming the loudest.  
> 2\. She never stopped supporting them as a manager. Even after they've all graduated and were no longer part of Karasuno's VBC, they'll sometimes find Hitoka wandering around their universities, noticing small details and giving them pointers. They never stopped supporting her in return.  
> 3\. Karasuno thought that Hitoka would become a competitive swimmer. She left for Australia in an exchange programme during her second year at uni. She came back declaring that she was going to do free diving.  
> 4\. Haru sighed in resignment. He couldn't protect her from competitions. Not if she chose to recreationally asphyxiate herself during them. But at that moment Hitoka swore that his eyes were gleaming with pride.  
> 5\. Despite knowing so much about Karasuno from Hitoka's stories, Haru had never met them, and they had never been clued in to his existence. Hitoka didn't know if they would one day meet. But if the strings of fate had tied them all together that deeply, then she would gladly accept it.  
> 6\. At one point of time, Hitoka asked Haru if he's ever made other promises. That was the day she found out about Makoto, Rin, and all his other friends. He never told her what promises he's made them. She's never asked. They wondered if Hitoka would one day get to meet them.  
> 7\. As much as Hitoka loved Haru's eyes, he was equally fascinated by hers. To this day, she doesn't understand why.
> 
> The rest of the story, I'm afraid, is for them to decide.
> 
> (I sound so pretentious wow)


End file.
